Tobacco press



Jan. 29, 1929. 1,700,388

. w. H. 'rRowBRlDGE f TOBACCO PRESS Filed Dec. 5. 1927 l 2 snqqxs-speet 1 1LT d AWA/M@ INVENroR. KH Twozf/Wz'fa ATTORNEYI) Jan. 29, 1929. 1,760,388

' W. H. TROWBRIDGE TOBACCO PRESS Filedvec. 5.*-1921 -zfsneets-Sneet 2 PP??? if INVENTR. Rs A N ZHTPoa/faye A" l ATTORNEH gil l) Patented Jan. 29, 1929.v

llhll STATES WILLIAM H. TROWBRIDGE, OF GEOBGETOWVIT, KENTUCKY.

TOBACCO PRESS.

Application filed December 5, i927. Serial No. 237,843.

llhis invent-ion relates to tobacco presses, and has more particular reference 'to an improved press for fattening tobacco leaves to improve their appearance and for pressing a arge quantity of the same into compact form so as to require a minimum amount of space in storage or during shipment. Y

rlhe primary object of the ilrn'esent ,invention to provide a press of the above kind which is extremely simple and durable in construction well as eiiicient and reliable in operation.

A still further object is to provide a tobacco press embodying a packing box or press chamber l'iaving a pressing board or follower slidably mounted therein, and sim ple and efficient manually operable means for effecting movement of the packing board to compress the tobacco between the latter and an end of the packing box.

Other' obiects will appear the nature of the invention is better understood, and the same consists in the novel form, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accon'ipanying drawings and claimed.

ln the drawings, wherein like reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views,

Figure 1 is a side elevational view, partly broken away, of a tobacco press constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Figure Q is an end elevational view looking toward the right of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical transverse section taken upon line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure l is an elevational view of the w-indlass mechanism effecting movement of the pressing board or follower as seen looking toward the left of Figure 1;

Figrue 5 is a fragmentary plan view showing the connection between the pull bar of the'prcssing board and the cable of the winding` drum or windlass mechanism;

Figure 6 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken upon line 6-6 of Figure 1:,

Figure 7 is a transverse section taken upon line 7-7 of Figure 1; and

Figure 8 is an enlarged elevational view of the pressing plate and the pull bar thereof.

Referring more in detail to the drawings, the present press includes a horizontally elongated open top press box 5 having its inner end closed by a suitably braced end wall 6 and provided upon the upper longi. tudinal edges of the side Walls thereof with slide rails 7. rlhe side walls of the press box are preferably formed of a plurality of boards superimposed in edge to edge rela tion as shown in Figures 1, and suitably secured to upright posts'or stanchions 8 disposed at suitable intervals at the outside thereof. rlhe side walls are also rigidly coni nested at intervals by cross bars 9 which ex tend outwardly of the side walls of the press box and to the outer ends of which are secured the lower ends of .inclined braces 10 that extend upwardly and inwardly and are fastened to the adjacent posts 8 by bolting or the like. Extending longitudinally of the side walls of the press box 5 upon the inner faces thereof and in horizontal alinement are guide ribs 11 which engage in side notches 12 of a vertical follower or press board 13 whereby the latter is supported for horizontal sliding movement within the press box. ln order to further support the press board for sliding movement and to guard against such longitudinal tilting thereof as will cause objectionable binding, said press board or follower plate 13 is provided at its top with a cross bar 14 whose projecting ends are arranged to ride upon the slide rails 7.

The end wall 6 is preferably composed of three vertical boards as shown in Figure 3, said boards being connected by cross bars 15 whose ends project and are fastened to the adjacent ends of the side walls of the press box as at 16. rElie cent-ral board of the end wall 6 has an upper end portion which pro- `jects above the upper ends of the remaining` boards and is bifurcated to provide a guide slot I17 through which slidably extends a pull bar 18 having its outer end rigidly connected to the top of the pressing board or follower 13 as shown clearly in Figures 1,2 and 3. For this purpose, the pull bar 18 is preferably bolted to the top of the follower as at 19 at a point inwardly of the outer end of the pull bar and an inclined brace 2O is provided between the outer side and lower end portion of the follower 13 and the outer end of the pull bar. In this way the follower board proper is edectively braced against outward pressure such as occurs Vwhen the follower is slid toward the inner end of the press box for compressing the tobacco leaves suitably supported in vertical position between said follower and the inner end wall 6 of the press box.

For exerting an inward pull upon the pull bar 18 a windlass mechanism is preferably lll) provided which is manually operated and includes a pair or spaced vertical posts 21 suitably rigidly mounted in spaced relation to and inwardly of the inner end of the press box as shown in Figure 1. The windlass mechanism specifically includes a winding drum 22 rotatably mounted upon a horizontal axis or spindle having its ends `iournaled in bearing brackets 28 lixed to the respective posts 21 at the inner sides of the latter. 'lhe winding drum 22 is provided with a plurality of radiating or radial handles or levers 24 so that the drum may be readily manually turned Yitor windingvthe cable 25 thereonto exert an inward pull upon the pull bar 18, one end of the cable 25 being suitably securec to the drum 22 and the: other end thereof being detachably connected to the inner end of the pull bar 18 asl shown in Figures 1 and 5. In order to releasably hold the drum 22 against turning and thereby retain the cable 25 wound thereon, a vertically swinging latch bar 26 is pivoted at one end to one of the posts 21 and is adapted to be swung downwardlyto a horizontal position behind a keeper 27 iixed to the other post 21 so as to be disposed in the path o the outer end ot the lever or handle 24 which is adjacent and inwardly oi:` said latch bar. bviously, by slightly raising the latch bar 26 the drum may be partly turned to cause the next proceeding handle 211 'to pass the latch bar after which the latter may be again lowered to retain the tobacco in the press box under the compression which has thereby been e'- ected.

As shown in Figures 1 and 5, the tree end of the rope or cable 25 preferably has a hook 28 attached thereto and the inner end of the pull bar 18 has a transverse slot 29 in which the hooked end of the hook 28 may be engaged. A bolt 30 extends vertically through the inner end of the pull bar 18 so as to intersect the slot 29 and so 'that the hook 28 may be engaged therewith. Thus, upon engaging the hooked end of the hook 28 in the slot 29 the bolt 8O may be inserted to securely retain the hook connected to the pull bar 18. On the other hand, removal of the bolt 3() will be required in order to eillect disengagement of the hook 28 itroiny the pull bar.

In operation, the press board or follower 13 is slid to a point adjacent the outer end of the press box and the tobacco leaves are suitably suspended in a vertical position within the press box between the follower 13 and the inner end wall 6 of the press box. The latch bar 26 is then swung out of the path of the handles 2aand the cable 25 is unwound from the drum 22 so that the hook 28 may be connected to the pull bar 18y as shown in Figure 1. The drum 22 is then manually turned'by use of the vhandles 24 in a clockwise direction as shown in Figure 1 so as to cause the cable 25l to beI wound on said drun'i and eiiect inward sliding movenient 0i the follower 18. lVhenthis takes place, the suspended leaves are flattened and pressed into conipactrrelation so that a considerable bulk of the leaves may be pressed into tlat neat appearing form and in such relation as to require a minimum amount of space when in storage or during shipment. rlhe guiding of the pull bar 18 in the slot 17 eil'ectively prevents lateral twisting 'of the follower 18 about a vertical axis such as would cause binding of the same against the sides ot the press box. When the device is not in use, the hook 28 may be readily disconk nected from the pull bar 18 and the press structure proper embodying the press box and t'ol'lower may be placed aside at any point desired.

lrom the iloregoing description it will be seen that. l have provided a simple and durt tobacco press which isthororghlyl reliable in operation and into and out of the press box ot which the tobacco may be readily placed or removed.

Minor changes may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

l/V hat l claim as new is in' a tobacco press, a horizontal press box, a pressing board slidably mounted in said press box and movable toward an end of the latter to press the tobacco, a.. pull bar rigidly connected to the top of said pressing board, and a windlass mechanism for exert-ing a pull on said )ull bar including a pair of posts having a winding drum j'ournaled thereon. said drum having radial handles, movable between the posts, a keeper on one post, a latch bar pivoted to the other post and movable into the path of the handles when engaged with the keeper, a cable attached to the drumj and means to detachably connect the cable to the pull bar.4

In testimony whereof l atlix my signature.

VVLLIAM H. TROVBRIDGE. 

